What do fashion icon Iris Apfel, Queen Mathilde of Belgium and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands have in common with us at Mary Jane Denzer?
We’re all fans of Angela Caputi and her fabulous jewelry, whose designs in rich, lacquered resin bridge the figurative and the abstract, the classical and the modern and, most important of all, the fine and the faux in haute couture costume jewelry.
Ropes of beads as big as red seedless grapes held together by a curling crocodile clasp; abstract floral earrings that evoke the legendary cities of Samarkand and Istanbul; pendants that feature a bust of Michelangelo’s “David” – a signature work of her hometown of Florence – turquoise Buddhas or crabs and scarabs that conjure pre-Columbian and Egyptian designs: Caputi’s pieces live up to their branding and her nickname, Giuggiù, which can be loosely translated, she has said, as playful.
Our selections include chunky bracelets and long necklaces with tassles and beading, which marry the curving and the angular in dark, jeweled colors.
Giuggiù jewelry has been designed from the company’s beginning in 1975 by Caputi herself in a workshop in the 17th-century Palazzetto Medici on Via Santo Spirito – a stone’s throw from the Ponte Vecchio, the bridge that figures so dramatically in “O mio babbino caro,” a signature soprano aria from Giacomo Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi.” Working with synthetic Italian materials alongside a small group that includes family, Caputi creates pieces inspired by American films of the first half of the 20th century that are popularly priced and yet have been showcased in such august spaces as The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and the Costume Gallery in Florence.
A champion of women, Caputi designs for the independent, sophisticated woman that is her client but shrewdly also keeps their men in mind.
“Men appreciate the materials I use and find the jewelry designs very interesting,” she told The Florentine in 2007. “They fall in love with the pieces almost immediately and give Giuggiù pieces as gifts. It is a personal and intimate line, because the pieces are one of a kind.”
We can’t but agree. The pieces make a major fashion statement yet are incredibly lightweight – another fascinating seeming contradiction. Perhaps that’s why whenever MJD owners Anastasia Cucinella and Debra O’Shea are in Paris during Fashion Week, their first stop is the Premiere Classe accessories trade show in the Jardin des Tuileries to see what new treasures Caputi has created for the season.
During a trip to Florence last October, O’Shea had a Caputi treat of a more personal nature. While out shopping, she came across the Caputi boutique. (There are two Angela Caputi Giuggiù boutiques in Florence, along with one each in Milan, Forte dei Marmi, Rome and Paris.) Of course, O’Shea went inside to say hello as well as to take pictures for MJD’s Instagram account. That evening, she and her husband celebrated her birthday by dining al fresco at the Hotel Savoy. Just at the moment she was posting the pictures, she noticed Caputi at an adjoining table. It was such a coincidence – or kismet? – that she couldn’t resist saying “Hello” and showing her the photographs. Caputi was charmed and charming as she posed for a photo with O’Shea – a birthday gift from the fashion gods.